Queenslander Houses - would you buy a renovator?

What is it about Queenslanders? They're cold in winter, hot in summer, prone to white ant attack and are in constant need of work, but thousands of people, me included, wouldn't live in any other kind of house.

Perhaps it's their simplistic structure or the natural materials they are constructed from that harks back to a time when life was simple and carefree. It seems that as you get older sometimes you just want to wind the clock back to the good old days.

When I'm out walking around the streets where I live and see an "old girl" in need of some love, it's almost like walking past the kennels at the RSPCA - these houses are looking at me screaming "please save me!" I just can't help myself - if I had more money I would buy them all and do them up, one by one.

I'm still extremely keen to continue with our renovations, but there have been quite a few good houses that have come onto the market of late (probably has something to do with Spring.) I'm just checking all  other options, before we actually start.

I arranged for an inspection of a house the other day - it has a good floor plan and sits on an elevated 650 m2 block (which is pretty good for around here.) Sadly it has suffered from neglect and lack of maintenance over the years. Most people wouldn't look twice at it. But I can see past the rusty old roof, termite damage and awful colour scheme.

Water damage

White ant damage

Rusted out roof and gutters

When I saw the enclosed front verandah:

Current

This is what I imagined it could look like:

My vision

And this old sleep out:

With that wall knocked out could become this:

So I did a crazy thing - I put in an offer!